Still Into You
by floatsodelicately
Summary: Sequel to Waiting To Be Found - A look back at Dean and Hermione's debut at the Yule Ball and the following years.


_ "You felt the weight of the world,_

_Fall off your shoulder,_

_And to your favourite song,_

_We sang along to the start of forever,_

_And after all this time, I'm still into you."_

_Still Into You - Paramore_

* * *

Lavender looked on from her place beside the other bridesmaids as the couple began their first dance as husband and wife. Hermione's ivory dress fitted her wonderfully, the silk seemed to flow like a waterfall as it trailed behind her as she and Dean spun happily, almost _giddily_, in the middle of the hall.

She thought back to their first outing as a couple, at the Yule Ball in fourth year. Lavender remembered her shock at seeing Hermione looking like a girl. Not just that, but looking _pretty_. She and Parvati were more girly than their studious dorm mate and as a result, they had never really got on in their time spent living together. That night was when their friendship had really started. They had been civil before, maybe sometimes less than, but it had changed after the Ball.

Despite securing Seamus as her date to the ball early on, Lavender hadn't found out who his best friend, Dean, was taking until he walked through the doors of the Great Hall with Hermione on his arm. She had stolen the attention of a few of the boys when she had worn something other than her uniform and – she had discovered later on – almost a whole bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to tame her riotous curls.

Hermione and Dean had danced for most of the night, not noticing the glares that they received from Krum, Ron and oddly, Draco Malfoy. Lavender noticed the fond smiles that their Head of House bestowed upon the couple, as well as the confusingly smug expression that Professor Flitwick had adopted whenever he looked at them. Hermione's wide smile stayed glued to her face for hours until Dean had left to go get drinks and she disappeared to go find her two best friends.

Seamus had turned in early, a victim of the twins' idea to spike the punch with firewhiskey, leaving Lavender with Parvati. The two girls were making their way to the common room, talking about their evening.

"Two dances!" Parvati grumbled slightly. "Just two dances with my date, _and_ they were forced, is it really too much to ask that he at least pretended to have fun and not stare at Cho all night?"

"At least you got to dance with other people, who was that one from Beauxbatons?" Lavender elbowed her teasingly, "He was cute."

"Henri," Parvati blushed. "You're right. You and Seamus had fun though, right?"

They turned the corner, "Yeah, those dance lessons worked, he and Dean are a lot better than I expected."

"You danced with Dean too?"

"Mhmm, we traded for a dance. He and Hermione were so cute. He just kept gushing about her for the whole song. Seamus said that he's been hard to get a hold of lately, something about a Charms project with 'Mione."

"Ahh, a very interesting project, it seems," Parvati giggled.

The girls reached the bottom of the staircase and saw that Hermione was sitting there, slumped over with her hands covering her face. They watched for a few seconds in confusion before they saw her shoulders shaking slightly. They picked up the skirts of their dresses and hurried up towards her.

"What's wrong?" Lavender asked.

Hermione looked up and the two girls took in her red rimmed eyes and flushed complexion. "Oh, nothing, I'm sorry – I've got to go-"

Parvati pulled her back as she went to leave. "No, what is it?"

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands, "It's really nothing-"

"Nonsense," Lavender interrupted. "Was it Dean? Did he upset you?"

"No, no!" Hermione shook her head vigorously. "Dean didn't do anything, Dean's been perfect."

"So what happened?" Parvati asked again.

She sighed and sank back down on the stairs. "Ronald."

The other two rolled their eyes as they recognised Hermione's tone.

"What did that idiot do _this time_?"

Hermione gave a small smile at that and went on to have her first girl-talk session. In all of her years at Hogwarts, she had never really understood the need that other girls had to gossip or talk about the other students, she had never giggled with the girls or uttered phrases such as a scandalised '_He didn't!_' or '_Oh my Merlin, he did_ _what?_' until after that night. Her argument with Ron about 'not helping Harry with the tournament' and 'sneaking off to see secret boyfriends' had led to Hermione finding her first real _girl_friends.

Since then, Hermione had become closer with the other Gryffindor girls. She was still close to Harry and Ron, but had an escape when needed.

Her relationship with Dean had also progressed. Through the tournament and the return of Voldemort, to dictating toads and secret defence groups, they stuck together. Seventh year had been the hardest, Dean was on the run because he couldn't prove his half-blood status and Hermione was working to find and destroy the horcruxes with Harry and Ron. Months had gone by with only messages sent through charmed notebooks, before they were both snatched, they shared a smile that lasted for a couple of seconds, their relief at seeing each other quickly replaced with the dread of what was to come. He had been in the dungeons with the others and heard her screams as she was tortured before they were all rescued from Malfoy Manor and taken to Shell Cottage. Dean stayed by her bedside until she woke up, helping Fleur to heal the damage done to his girlfriend by Bellatrix Lestrange. She chuckled at his ramblings as he cried with relief, kissing every inch of her face when she opened her eyes. It was then that he proposed.

The battle took place only weeks later. They survived, mostly intact. The castle was rebuilt over the summer months and opened for students in time for a new school year in September. Many of the seventh years returned to Hogwarts to actually learn and take their N.E.W.T.'s without the Death Eaters running the school. When Professor Vector retired, Hermione took her place as Arithmancy Professor. She and Dean struggled with their time apart for a few months before Dean accepted Headmistress McGonagall's offer to replace the Muggle Studies teacher when she discovered during tea with the young couple that the current curriculum was based on _17__th__ century muggle life_ and the professor was a pureblood who had _never_ lived in the muggle world as he had stated in his interview.

So it was that Lavender found herself in the Great Hall of Hogwarts watching Mr and Mrs Thomas dance. The doors had been opened after the ceremony to allow the students in, rather than Filch reporting to the Headmistress every 2 minutes about the students loitering in the corridors as they tried to catch a glimpse of their two favourite professors. It seemed that the student body – or the female half at least – had a soft spot for the couple and often spent mealtimes in the Hall 'ooh'-ing and 'ahh'-ing over the 'significant looks' and 'meaningful glances' exchanged at the staff table, not to mention the stolen kiss that caused the squeals of excitement that prevented the blushing bride-to-be from repeating the action in front of students again.

Though it appeared that she no longer felt the need to hold back – at least not today – as she pulled her husband down to kiss her as he swept her around the dancefloor. Before pulling back and looking at him with that sparkle in her eyes, the same sparkle that they all saw at the Yule Ball, after all this time.

* * *

A.N. This isn't the DeanxHermione that I said I was working on last time, that'll be a while yet, I have too many ideas and non-ideas that I want to try as well as updating other stories which I will get onto now-!


End file.
